Genesis 31

CHAPTER 31THEME: Jacob flees from Haran; the Mizpah covenantIn this chapter we find that Jacob leaves Laban without giving notice. They don’t even have a farewell party for him. Laban takes out after him and overtakes him. Finally, Jacob and Laban made another contract, this time not to defraud or hurt each other. Then they separate in an outwardly friendly manner. We will see that God wants to get Jacob out of that land. He recognizes that the influence of Laban’s household is not good for Jacob and his growing family. The boys are going to be heads of the twelve tribes of Israel, and God is anxious to get them out from that environment and back into Abraham’s country, the country which He had promised to Abraham. We are in a section of the Word of God which God has given to minister to our needs. It deals with a man who is a very sinful man in many ways and a man whom God would not give up. You and I can take courage from this. The Lord will never give us up as long as we keep coming back to Him. He will always receive us. If He will take a fellow like Jacob and a fellow like I am, He will take you, my friend. You will recall that Jacob has had a pretty sad ordeal of twenty years with Uncle Laban. Uncle Laban has really given him a course in the college of hard knocks, and poor Jacob is beginning to wince because of all the pressure he has been under. However, since the new deal which he had made with Laban regarding cattle breeding, Jacob is now getting more than Uncle Laban is getting. Uncle Laban doesn’t like it, nor do his sons like it.

Genesis 31:1

Now Jacob has a call from God.

Genesis 31:3

God called Jacob to leave, and so he is now preparing to do that. He calls Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field because he is afraid to talk this over at home for fear some servant or possibly even Laban or Laban’s sons might overhear him. He doesn’t want them to see him plotting with Rachel and Leah.

Genesis 31:5

That is one thing upon which we can agree with Jacob and say to his credit. He had worked hard, but I’m of the opinion that we ought to give Laban credit for that. I believe that Laban got his money’s worth out of anyone who worked for him.

Genesis 31:7

Notice that ten times in those twenty years old Laban had changed his wages! Poor Jacob. But when he was perplexed and frustrated, not knowing where to turn, God intervened.

Genesis 31:8

Jacob is explaining to Rachel and Leah that it is God who has blessed him, to the extent that Laban and his sons have become very jealous of him; in fact, they hate him. Now Jacob tells the actual reason why he wants to leave

Genesis 31:11

You probably thought that in the previous chapter I was not giving a satisfactory answer for what had taken place in the breeding of cattle. I was waiting until we came to this portion of Scripture, because God says, “I did it!” We don’t need to look for natural explanations, although I am confident that God used one of them. However, since God didn’t tell us which one it is, we simply do not know. There are several explanations, and you may take the one you want, but I like this one: God says, “I saw what Laban was doing to you, and I blessed you.”

Genesis 31:13

“I am the God of Beth-el.” God goes back to the time He appeared to this boy when he was running away, that first night away from home which he spent at Bethel. “Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.” God wants him to leave Haran because he has at this time eleven boys who are growing up, and they are already beginning to learn some things which they should not be learning. God wants to get Jacob and these boys away from the place of idolatry just as He got Abraham out of a home of idolatry.

Genesis 31:14

They are saying that certainly, as the daughters of their father, they should receive some inheritance, and that ought to keep Laban from being so antagonistic. But, friend, old Laban cannot be trusted. Unfortunately, there are many Christians today who demonstrate in the way they handle their own money and the money of others that they cannot be trusted either. This is, I feel, a real test of an individual. I could tell you some stories that would make your hair stand on end. Christians, and Christian leaders, do things with money that ought not to be done.

Genesis 31:16

I admire these two women. They tell Jacob to do whatever he wants to do. They stand with him, and apparently they feel that their father has robbed them.

Genesis 31:17

JACOB FLEES FROM HARANHere is a revelation of something that is quite interesting. Jacob rises up and leaves posthaste again. You remember that this is the same way he left home when he was escaping from his brother. Now he is leaving his unclebut it is not all his fault this time. It is obvious that he is prepared for this. He has all the cattle and the servants ready to march. “Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.” I told you that they were in a home of idolatry. God didn’t want Jacob’s boys to be brought up there. But, you see, Rachel had been brought up in a home of idolatry, and she wanted to take her gods with her. What a primitive notion she had! Even Jacob had thought that he could run away from God when he left his home as a boy. But at Bethel God appeared to him.

He found that he couldn’t run away from God. In fact many years later David wrote: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell [sheol], behold, thou art there” (Psa_139:7-8). That is, death won’t separate you. “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me” (Psa_139:9-10). You won’t get away from God by even going to the moon. You simply cannot get away from Him. “And Laban went to shear his sheep.” Jacob waited until Laban went out to shear sheep. Probably Laban went quite a few miles away from home because the sheep grazed over a very large area in that day. They still do, for that matter, because it takes a large area to feed them. While Laban is away from home, Jacob just “forgets” to tell him that he is leaving.

Genesis 31:20

They have come within sight of Mt. Gilead, which is just east of the Jordan River. They have covered a lot of ground.

Genesis 31:22

Laban really had been traveling fast to overtake him. You may be sure that Laban doesn’t mean any good as far as Jacob is concerned. I am of the opinion that he is angry enough to kill him. But God intervened

Genesis 31:24

In other words, “You be very careful what you say and do.”

Genesis 31:26

How clever Uncle Laban is, how diplomatic! He tries to make Jacob feel guilty for depriving his family of wonderful send-off party. He would have had a great celebration and a fond farewell. That’s what he says, but I don’t think that is what he would have done. Then he goes on to appeal to sentiment.

Genesis 31:28

These “sons” would be his grandsons. They are destined to be very prominent as far as the history of this world is concerned.

Genesis 31:29

Laban lets him know that he didn’t mean good by him but that God had prevented him from doing bad.

Genesis 31:30

Now he asks about the stolen gods. Actually, Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen the gods. When he answers Laban, he is answering about his running away without letting him know.

Genesis 31:31

Jacob knew that Laban wouldn’t have let him take his wives and his family and that which belonged to him. Now he replies to the charge of the stolen gods

Genesis 31:32

He is sure no one would have stolen them from Laban. You see, Jacob didn’t believe Laban. But if you think that Laban believed Jacob, you’re wrong. They had absolutely no confidence in each other. It’s been a nice, pleasant twenty years together, hasn’t it?

Genesis 31:33

He really expected one of his daughters to have them. Rachel is quite a clever girl herself, isn’t she? She is the daughter of her father! She had taken them and put them in the camel’s furniture, which is the box that went on the camel’s back. Then she sat down on them and excused herself to her father. She said she couldn’t get up because she didn’t feel well that day. All the while, she is sitting on them. What a realistic picture we get of this family! Rachel’s taking the teraphim from her father was probably much more serious than we had imagined. The possession of those household gods implied leadership of the family, which meant that Jacob was going to inherit everything old Laban had! That is the reason Laban was so wrought up over it. He surely did not want Jacob to get his estatehe felt he had gotten too much already. Jacob gets a little confidence now. They can’t locate the images, and Jacob is sure that they aren’t anywhere around. He wants to rebuke his father-in-law who has come after him.

Genesis 31:36

Now Jacob voices his complaint. He has passed the course in the college of hard knocks, and now he is getting his degree.

Genesis 31:38

He didn’t even get his meals. He had to pay for those.

Genesis 31:39

He couldn’t even get any insurance. When a lamb was stolen or killed by a wild animal, Jacob had to pay for it. Believe me, this Laban is a hard taskmaster!

Genesis 31:40

He didn’t get a vacation in the summer. When the weather grew cold, he still had to stay out with the sheep and with the animals. Many nights he had to watch to protect the flock.

Genesis 31:41

This is what has happened to Jacob. Here is the man who is clever, who thought that he could get by with sin, but God didn’t let him get by with it because God has made it very clear that whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. Jacob refused submission to God at home; so he had to submit to his uncle. Jacob came to receive a wife in dignity, but he was made a servant because God respects the rights of the firstborn. Jacob had deceived his father; so he was deceived by his father-in-law. Jacob, the younger, became as the older.

Then he found out that he was given the older when he thought he was getting the younger. He revealed a mercenary spirit that displayed itself in the way he got the birthright, allowing his mother to cover his hands with the skins of kids of goats. Later on, we will see that his own sons will deceive him in very much the same way. They killed a kid and in its blood they dipped Joseph’s coat of many colors. He deceived his father about being the favorite son, and he will be deceived about his favorite son, Joseph. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.

Genesis 31:42

Jacob has had his day in court. He has vented his grievances. Now he is going to leave Laban. They bid each other good-bye and make a contract.

Genesis 31:43

THE MIZPAH COVENANTJacob set up a stone for a pillar, a heap of stones was gathered, and a contract was made.

Genesis 31:48

The words of this contract have been used by young people’s groups and other groups as a benediction. I don’t think it ought to be used that way because it was a contract made between two rascals who are going to quit stealing from each other and work on somebody else! “The Lord watch between me and thee” is really saying, “May the Lord keep His eye on you so you won’t steal from me anymore.” That is exactly what these men are saying. And after this, they separate. The pile of stones remained at Mizpah as a boundary line between Laban and Jacob. Each promised not to cross over on the other’s side.